Cartridge case reloading mechanisms



Oct. 4, 1955 A. A. BAHLER CARTRIDGE CASE RELOADING MECHANISMS Filed Feb. 20, 1952 INVENTOR MV if 5g/42V ATTORNEYS 2,719,453 Patented Cct. 4, 1955 nited States Patent Orifice 2,719,453 CARTRIDGE CASE RELoADING MECHNISMS l Bahler, Coos Bay, (llrcgt g I Application February 20, 1952, serial Ne. 272,66s

s ciims. (ci. sts-*23) The present' invention relates to cartridge case reloadh ing mechanism and its primary objective is' to provide a mechanism of kthis character which will function more perfectly than mechanisms of the same general nature heretofore provided, Vin the resizing of cartridge shells and reloading with bullets. Y Y

It has heretofore been the practice of many of those who expend fixed `'ammunition in hunting and target practice to reload the shells which have been emptied Vof' their contents by the act of rng', either for the purpose of conserving materialand redcirig" costs or, byinserting a charge of explosive which diiers in kind or amount from the chage originally placed in the shell, to produce ammunition for some special purpose, for instance for hunting or for target shooting; -Devics or mechanisms by means of which shells of duct'ile metal may be Vsuccessfully resized and reloaded are currently available and many such have been'` heretofore utilied for these purposes. A conventional type of reloading pl paratus includes` two pressnmembers' adapted to' be' toward and away from each other aloi'g a rectilinear path, one such pressmember comprising a support for a die and the other constituting a support fora shell which is either to be resized or to have a bullet inserted into its reduced open end. It ishighly to be desired that the' cartridge case or shell belaterally supported in a rni manner as it is moved axially toward the die and various means have heretofore been suggested for supporting the shellv in its advancing movement as the dies approach-each other. One such meansincludes a tubular member' or 'sleeve slidable toward and awayl from the die and the inner' w'all of which is tapered, this surfacebeing intended to snugly engage and support the tapering surface of the shell which is to be supported by this rnen'rb'er i It has been found, however, that accuracy of assembly of a bulletand shell case is not uniformly possible with devices of the character described and which arefpresently available. Thus`as a practical matter', the tapered bore of the sliding shell` support only occasionally' fully erigages and precisely supports the tapering outer surface of the shell to be reloadedthe1shellbeing usually laterally movable in the slidingQsupport to such extent that the bullet introduced into the open end lof the shellwill'f not be in exact coaxial relationship with 'then shell after the assembly operation has been tzonipleted.4 lwill be' appreciated that netherthe shellsl nor" the cliagn'ibersy of the rifles or guns in which the shells are to be used are of identical dimension, absolute uniformity of shape and dimension of a mass produced article not being possible'to realize. Manufacturers work within certain tolerances but such tolerances doexist and, because of this, the shell chamber of 4one gun may bevv larger'than' theshell placed therein so that the shell will expand slightly when ffred, to snugly engage the chamber wall. Cartridges ,which have thus been deformed to varying? degrees by rings in different guns cannot all snugly engage the wall of the tapering recess in the sliding carrier of a reloading apparatus, this recess being constant in shape and dimension.

YIn orderV to provide a reloading means for cartridge cases which will accommodate 'and accurately support shellcases which vary in taper I have dispensed with the conventional sliding shell case carrier with its elongated tapering interior wall surface and have substituted therefor a' sliding cartridge case support which will automaticallyn accommodate itself to and accurately support cartridge caseswhich vary widely in degree of taper. Thus, in lieu of the single sleeve with tapered bore I provide two axially spaced, relatively movable, annular sliding shell carriers, these carriers having central bores which may be either cylindrical or tapering. The arrangement is such that a cartridge case moving toward the die will separately engage the annular sliding carriers at spaced points and not necessarily at the same time, the net result being, however, that when fully engaged with both slid ing carriersthe shell is of necessity constrained to movee ment in a rectilinear path directly toward and directly away from the Vdie and may not move laterally to any extentwhatsoever. v As a result the ultimate product of a reloading operation carried out in `the apparatus; i. e. the shell case with explosive charge and bullet, will be perfect in all particulars and may, if desired, be of a special 'character' so as to have maximum utility for a given purpose.

The invention may be embodiedinvarious specic forms, one of which is illustrated in the drawings, in which l 4 Figure 1- dscloses in axial section a die primarily inh tended to be used in the insertion of bullets in the ends of otherwise loaded shells, the relatively movable press parts being shown widely separated, the cartridge shell being mounted upon-the lower press part and a bullet loosely placed in its open end; and

y Figure '2 shows the same' mechanism with the parts in the relationship' which` they occupy at the conclusion o the bullet insertion operation.

No attempt is made to illustrate in detail the conventional-elements of the press, which may be varied Widely, the presentv invention having utility in association with presses of quite diierent form and' construction. The upper press member or part is diagrammatically indicated at 10 and the lower press member or part at 11. It will be understood that these parts are movable toward and from each other along a rectilinear path in customary manner and preferably that it is the lower press member 11 which moves, the upper press member 10 being stationary. A die is shown to be mounted upon the upper press part or member 10, this die comprising a body or die support 12 the lower portion of which is exteriorly threaded and these exterior threads engaging the interior threads" of a cylindrical bore formed in the member 10. Lock nur 13,` also in engagement with 4the exteriorly threaded surface vof the member 12, secures this member Vin any position of an" axial relationship to which it may be adjusted.`

Various dies may be carried interiorly of the die supporting tubular member 12 and, in the form of the inventionL shown, a two-part bullet seating die is operatively positionedon the support. This die comprises a tubular exterior-ly threaded member 15 having threaded engagement with the member 12 at' its upper end and a spindle 16 disposed within the upper end of the central Abore of member 15, such upper end being threaded and the cylindrical outer surface of the spindle 16 being correspondingly threaded'. The reduced lower endV of spindle 1-6 isrecessed; at 17, for the reception of the upper end off a bullet, such, for instance,` as the bullet indicated at 18. The extreme lower endl of the bore in the tubular die member 15 flares downwardly and outwardly, as indicated at 19,r to direct into this bore, which is indicated at 20, the rounded nose of a bullet moving upwardly toward the die. The diameter of the portion 20 of the bore is such that it will receive the bullet and the upper end of the shell or cartridge case 21, as indicated in Figure 2, the cartridge case snugly engaging and frictionally gripping the surface of the bullet.

The cylindrical inner surface of the lower end of the supporting member 12 comprises a guide surface for two annular sliding shell carriers, indicated at 22 and 23, which sliding carriers are freely movable longitudinally of member 12 but are normally retained in the positions in which they are shown in Figure l by helical springs 24 and 25, which are under compression at all times.l

A ring 26 inserted in a groove formed in the inner wall of member 12 adjacent its lower end comprises a stop limiting the downward movement of the annular supporting member 23 and the member 22 moves to a position determined by the relative strengths of the springs 24 and 25 but which in the average case will be that in which this member is illustrated in Figure l. The member 23 is provided with an axial bore which is coaxial with the inner guiding surface of the tubular member 12 and the member 22 is provided with an annular bore of somewhat smaller diameter than the bore of member 23 so that, if a cartridge case or shell 21 be moved upwardly into the tubular member 12 from the position in which it is shown in Figure l to the position in which it is shown in Figure 2, the shell will engage both annular supports 22 and 23, but at different points and, in the usual case, at different times. After both sliding carriers have been engaged by the shell, however, the shell and the carriers advance simultaneously giving the cartridge case or shell ample support against lateral movement so that its axis during the bullet inserting operation is always coincident with the axis of the bullet supporting die.

It is clear that in an arrangement of this kind cartridge cases which vary in degree of taper within wide limits are adequately supported as they advance and that the sliding support which comprises the two annular sliding carrier members 22 and 23 automatically adiusts itself in operation, from case to case. At the completion of the upward movement of the lower press member 11 the bullet 18 will have been pressed into the open end of the shell and the open end of the shell will have been caused to grip the bullet. Thereafter the press member 11 is lowered and the shell withdrawn from the die, the flanged lower end of the shell, indicated at 21a, being retained within the undercut clamping member 28. The operation may be repeated rapidly and all shells are loaded accurately despite variations in taper, as explained.

I prefer to form the annular supports 22 and 23 with tapering cartridge case receiving bores so that the area of contact between each such support and a cartridge case engaging the same may be as large as possible. It will of course be true that full contact will seldom be realized since the cases vary in degree of taper while the taper of the case receiving seats do not. In any event, the arrangement is such as to provide support for the shell by two relatively movable means, both slidable toward and away from the die, and relatively movable so that thev may engage the tapered surface of the cartridge being reloaded at different places along its length.

It will be appreciated that for the dies and 16 illustrated in the drawings other conventional or specially formed dies may be substituted, while at the same time retaining the advantageous shell or cartridge case supporting means which includes the sliding supports 22 and 23, resilient elements such as 24 and 25, and the member which houses these elements and supports. Thus, members 15 and 16 may be replaced by dies which function to round out, size and true the reduced tubular end of the cartridge case, all without change in thel shell guiding means. The invention thus facilitates the accurate processing of the cartridge case in various ways and enables one interested in reloading used cases to rapidly accomplish more perfect results than heretofore.

It is known that, by reloading procedures carefully carried out, ammunition for special purposes may be made which is more suitable for those purposes than any original ammunition which may be purchased. In every case it is desirable to bring about true coaxial relationship of shell case and bullet in the completed shell and the means which has been herein disclosed will assure that result.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. In a cartridge case reloading mechanism, in combination, a die support adapted to be mounted upon a press, said support having a surface for guiding a moving shell carrying means in a rectilinear path, a die mounted on said support and positioned to be engaged by a shell moved along said rectilinear path, and a shell carrying means slidably engaging the guide surface of said die support, said means including two relatively movable members having aligned shell receiving apertures, and spring means engaging each of said members for forcing each said member against that portion of the shell having a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the aperture of the respective member.

2. In a cartridge case reloading mechanism, in combination, a die support adapted to be mounted upon a press, said support having a surface for guiding a moving shell carrying means in a rectilinear path, a die mounted on said support and positioned to be engaged by a shell moved along said rectilinear path, and a shell carrying means slidably engaging the guide surface of said die support, said means including two relatively movable members having aligned shell receiving apertures of different diameters, the member having the aperture of greater diameter being more remote from the die, and resilient means normally opposing movement of both of said members toward said die while accommodating relative movement between said members.

3. In a cartridge case reloading mechanism, in combination, a die support adapted to be mounted upon a press, said support having a surface for guiding a moving shell carrying means along a rectilinear axis, a die mounted on said support and positioned to be engaged by a shell moved along said rectilinear path, and a shell carrying means slidably engaging the guide surface of said die support, said means including two relatively movable members having aligned shell receiving apertures the surfaces of which are disposed about a common axis which is coincident with the aforesaid rectilinear axis, a first spring normally opposing movement of one of said members toward said die, and a second spring normally opposing movement of the other of said members toward said die and toward said one member.

4. In a cartridge case reloading mechanism, in combination, a die support adapted to be mounted upon a press, said support having a surface for guiding a moving shell carrying means along a rectilinear axis, a die mounted on said support and positioned to be engaged by a shell moved along said rectilinear path, and a shell carrying means slidably engaging the guide surface of said die support, said means including two relatively movable members having aligned shell receiving apertures the surfaces of which are disposed about a common axis which is coincident with the aforesaid rectilinear axis, and resilient means normally opposing movement of both of said members toward said die, said resilient means including two spaced springs, one interposed between said relatively movable members, and the second being disposed to oppose movement of both members and the interposed spring toward said die.

5. In a cartridge case reloading mechanism, in combination, a die support adapted to be mounted upon a press, said support having a surface for guiding a moving shell carrying means along a rectilinear axis, a die mounted on said support and positioned to be engaged by a Shell moved along said rectilinear path, and a shell carrying means slidably engaging the guide surface of said die support, said means including two relatively movable members having aligned shell receiving apertures the surfaces of which are disposed about a common axis which is coincident with the aforesaid rectilinear axis, a spring interposed between said members normally urging them away from each other, and a spring interposed between said die and the nearest of said members References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jayne Oct. 11, 1938 Martin Oct. 16, 1951 

